HARD is when you're 13 in small town England & the only stuff on the radio
is cack.
HARD is when your mum won't let you go see Sisters Of Mercy because it's 'over 18s only'.
HARD is trying to dress like Simon Gallup as a gangly red-head.
HARD is trying to find that one weird
girl in town who wears black.
HARD is finding out she already has a boyfriend who looks more like Simon
Gallup than you do.
HARD is trying to convince your parents that New Order aren't nazis.
HARD is going to a new school to find that no one's ever heard of Ian Curtis.
HARD is losing your shoes in the rain at Glastonbury after your first real kiss.
HARD is going to college to again find no one's heard of Ian Curtis.
HARD is fighting in the pub defending the point that you CAN like both The Fall AND Mel & Kim.
HARD is learning that Siouxsie is getting married.
HARD is having the shit kicked out of you on the bus because of eye-liner.
HARD is finally getting that little black haired girl who then leaves you 'cos she
prefers chicks.
HARD is realizing that, really, you're pretty well just 'out there' on your own.
And when you realize that, I guess the HARD
turns to CALM...
When Iggor & Laima asked me to do 'My Definition Of Hard', well it was a
no-brainer really. Rather than
digging out all things noisy, I've taken the opportunity to put together a
selection (sorry BPM fans, it's
not really straight mix territory at all!) of some of the tunes that made
my adolescence just that bit less
HARD. It's been a joy to listen to them (and others - there are so many) at
full whack in the studio again.
I'm glad to say that I haven't grown up at all and it's songs like these
that just won't let me. I'm eternally
grateful for that. As Robert Smith starts to weep buckets as he goes into
the ad-lib on 'Faith' at this
summer's festivals, I shall be doing the same. Right down the front…
VB xxx
Tracklist :
BAUHAUS - 'Dark Entries' (4AD version)
JOHN COOPER CLARKE - 'Evidently Chicken Town'
SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES - 'Slowdive'
BIRTHDAY PARTY - 'Big Jesus Trash Can'
THE CULT - 'Love Removal Machine'
JOHN COOPER CLARKE - 'Beasley Street'
KILLING JOKE - 'Love Like Blood'
JESUS & MARY CHAIN - 'Side Walking' (extended)
THE CURE - 'A Short Term Effect'
THE CARDIACS - 'Is This The Life' (Peel Session)
HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT - 'All I Want For Xmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit'
ALIEN SEX FIEND - 'Ignore The Machine' (extended)
JOY DIVISION - 'Warsaw'
THE FALL - 'Wrong Place, Right Time'
HOUSE OF LOVE - 'I Don't Know Why I Love You'
THE CURE - 'Screw'
NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS - 'Deanna'
NEW ORDER - 'Age Of Consent'
ATTILA THE STOCKBROKER - 'Blood For Oil'
COCTEAU TWINS - 'Pur'
PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED - 'Flowers Of Romance'
FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM - 'Laura II'
PSYCHEDELIC FURS - 'All Of This & Nothing'
PREFAB SPROUT - 'When Love Breaks Down' (acoustic)
